Chapter 70: Are You Really the Chosen One?

To put it nicely, Chu Ning possessed a scientific spirit of inquiry; he was not one to accept authority easily, approaching everything with skepticism and only believing what had been proven through experience. To put it less kindly, he was plagued by suspicion, convinced that everything was woven from schemes and conspiracies, that every event hid some secret plot.

Such an attitude was hard to avoid, being alone in a strange world, wary of everyone around him. After all, the education he received from childhood taught him to dissect and study aliens, perhaps even sprinkle some cumin and roast them! If a person spends too long in a state of constant mental tension, with no one trustworthy beside them and no outlet for their frustration, madness is never far away.

Thus, Chu Ning maintained a skeptical attitude toward the books he found so easily, though deep down, he wanted to believe what was recorded in them. Had it not been for Wang Jinkai's invitation, he might never have known the villa’s address, let alone discovered the clues hidden within.

Chu Ning glanced thoughtfully at Tanya. He had noticed that, since meeting her, strange and supernatural incidents had increased inexplicably: the blood-sucking sofa, the terrifying criminal gang, the creature lurking in the locust tree, the wandering bus, the endless sixth floor, and now, the murder scene that resembled a slaughterhouse…

It was as if he had become a low-budget Conan in a foreign world, a harbinger of disaster, a magnet for the supernatural. Chu Ning looked at Tanya with concern; she had truly chosen the hardest path.

The saddest part was that Tanya’s deductive skills were poor, and her combat ability was negligible. Someone like her would find it difficult to survive in the treacherous world of ghosts.

“Let’s search somewhere else,” Tanya said, her voice full of distaste. She didn’t want to listen to Chu Ning’s endless muttering anymore, and what angered her more was that she’d been tricked by him and didn’t know how to refute him.

Chu Ning carefully collected the two books that recorded information. His short-term goal for this visit had not been achieved yet; it was indeed unwise to keep wasting time. Unraveling the mystery of his own existence was a long-term task, but the immediate priority was gathering valuables—one must distinguish between primary and secondary conflicts at crucial moments.

Their funds were truly insufficient; otherwise, Tanya, with her strong principles, would never have stooped to searching someone else’s home for valuables alongside Chu Ning.

She really didn’t want to deceive others with more supernatural tricks; perhaps this was the root of humanity’s gradual decline.

The villa’s land area wasn’t large, and the other rooms were quite tidy, except for the chaos in the living room.

As for cash and other valuables, they had vanished without a trace—it was possible, as they guessed, that the residents had fled with the money.

“Ah, life really is hard,” Chu Ning sighed, clutching a stack of flyers he’d gathered. The dark-toned flyer was for the familiar “Horror Adventure” event, recruiting participants for a summoning ritual, promising a reward of one million yuan in cash upon successful completion.

Tanya glared at the flyer with hatred; she was all too familiar with it. She had witnessed the entire summoning ritual and knew exactly what befell those reckless souls.

“None survived” was the most accurate description.

“Can you throw that flyer away? It’s irritating me!” Tanya gritted her teeth. Those people had recklessly courted death in her home, and she wished she could appear and scare them senseless.

Did they want to see ghosts? She’d let them see as many as they liked, so they’d know ghosts could get angry too!

“Don’t you want to look more carefully? There’s a preview for the next event,” Chu Ning said with a playful glint in his eye, sneering at the flyer’s sinister design.

It would be odd if there wasn’t something fishy going on. They had just discovered that Wang Jinkai might be hiding a beautiful woman, and that she might even be pregnant.

The next “Horror Adventure” task was ambiguously described as targeting a pregnant woman—almost as if they were naming her outright!

Tanya gazed at the flyer, lost in thought. Not only was it strange how such flyers were disseminated, but the organizers seemed to possess a wealth of supernatural information. Tanya even had reason to suspect that all these horror events were deliberately orchestrated by them.

She herself was a prime example, and this made her loathe the unseen organizers of “Horror Adventure” all the more.

Deliberately staging brutal murders just to satisfy their own desires—Tanya wished she could wipe out these troublemakers.

The next task preview on the flyer read:

Due to a leak from a secret laboratory, a highly dangerous female test subject has escaped. She specializes in creating various toxins and possesses the power to control corpses.

According to reliable informants, the subject is currently located in an abandoned chemical factory on Chu River Road. The target is likely pregnant, reducing her danger rating.

The mission is to capture the subject as intact as possible, with rewards based on the subject’s completeness.

Reward: one million to ten million yuan!

“The reward is tempting—it’s making me want to try!” Chu Ning’s eyes burned as he stared at the flyer’s promised sum. The urge to raise funds was growing wild within him; it was more cash than he could ever hope to earn in half his life.

As for the risk, Chu Ning automatically ignored it; when the reward is rich enough, people can be driven to astonishing feats.

He had seen the tragic fate of those who participated in the summoning ritual, but people always inexplicably believed in their own fortune.

Faced with high-risk, high-reward jobs, they always think themselves superior, destined to win and reap the rewards.

At such times, confidence surges—they believe themselves the protagonist of the world, blessed by fortune.

Even knowing the risks are enormous, they steadfastly believe their intelligence will see them through, allowing them to walk away with a fortune.

Such people will never heed sensible advice until they reach their last desperate moment. Even when trapped, they cling to an inexplicable faith in victory.

Perhaps this is the ordinary person’s dream of shortcutting their way to success—a stubborn wish that deafens them to warnings, a twisted form of self-awareness.

Knowing full well they can never reach the life of their dreams despite their best efforts, they choose to turn a blind eye and pray for unearned rewards!

This world values unequal exchange—how many can win the future with ease?

“Calm down, and don’t forget your brother—Wang Jinkai,” Tanya said, reflecting on the so-called brotherly bond between men being as fragile as plastic. Earlier, when they planned to seize Wang Jinkai’s property, she hadn’t spoken up, as she was benefiting as well.

Now, as they prepared to capture Wang Jinkai’s woman for cash, she stepped forward to dissuade Chu Ning. After all, it was “Horror Adventure” that had ruined her family and left her a wandering soul; she was a victim of these interests.

Chu Ning kept muttering Wang Jinkai’s name. He wished he didn’t have that brother.

No, he never truly had a brother named Wang Jinkai, but he needed to maintain his persona. In this era, nothing is more important than one’s image; he couldn’t afford to damage it by acting out of character.